Yamaha ZG-Serie – Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer

With the new Yamaha ZG Series and especially the Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer, the Japanese consumer electronics company Yamaha Corporation, represented in this country by Yamaha Music Europe GmbH, is dedicated to the target group of demanding gamers. The Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer is the first audio mixer from the Japanese company to be developed specifically for game voice chat and game streaming, and is intended to enable users to immerse themselves even more deeply in the game by optimally matching the sound of the game and the voices of the game partners.

eSports – A new target group

For years, the gaming sector was one that established consumer electronics companies hardly paid any attention to, that can be clearly stated. For a long time, it was primarily companies from the IT sector itself, here of course especially peripheral suppliers, who brought corresponding solutions to the market.

In fact, however, gaming is a gigantic market, especially eSports, with professionally managed leagues and a market segment that generates billions of dollars. Some people have long since put the games sector on a par with the global film industry. The Asian market in particular has been a pioneer here for some time, followed by the USA and, by a wide margin, Europe. The involvement of a consumer electronics company in the gaming sector can therefore be quite lucrative.

Yamaha ZG Series – Designed for gamers

Yamaha Music Europe GmbH is now dedicating itself to this specific market segment with the new Yamaha ZG Series, which is established with the new Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer and which also includes – strictly speaking – the Yamaha YH-G01 headset, which is designed to be the optimal gaming partner for the mixer.

Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer

As the name suggests, this solution is a small mixing console, a so-called mixer, whereby it is intended for connection to a PC or Mac via USB C or via 4-pin TRRS also for connection to smartphones and tablets with Apple iOS and Google Android, ultimately acting as a high-quality external audio interface.

With this new mixer, the game sound, the player’s own voice and the voices of the chat partners could be adapted to their own playback environment and at the same time the ideal audio signal could be provided to both the chat partner and the streaming audience.

This solution is therefore not only suitable for private gaming, it is also designed for larger-scale applications, such as the long-popular live streaming of games via corresponding platforms.

For this task, the Yamaha ZG01 features simple sound control with carefully selected physical controls, a variety of DSP effects such as a chatvoice changer, authentic surround sound processing via stereo headphones, and also 2-in/1-out HDMI ports that function as HDMI switchers and conversion adapters. According to the manufacturer, the Yamaha ZG01 offers excellent immersive gaming sound to fully immerse you in the action.

Powerful DSP for Yamaha ZG Sound Processing

The heart of the Yamaha ZG01 is, of course, a powerful DSP that allows a wide variety of algorithms with signal processing at 24 bit and 48 kHz. The manufacturer refers to this as Yamaha ZG Sound Processing, whereby a Focus Mode/EQ, a Voice Changer, 3D Chat Space Transceiver/ Radio Voice Effect and much more is available.

However, the Yamaha ZG Surround option is very important, because it allows you to realize a virtual surround sound, using the proprietary Yamaha ViReal Technology for headphones. With this, even stereo headphones are supposed to reproduce realistic immersive surround sound in order to be able to experience the gaming action spatially.

Yamaha ZG Controller App

In order to be able to use all the functions of the Yamaha ZG01 particularly easily and to adjust them optimally in all conceivable parameters, the Yamaha ZG Controller Ap is available for Apple macOS as well as Microsoft Windows. Of course, various configurations can be saved here as presets and then called up at any time at the touch of a button with the help of the intuitive user interface of the Yamaha ZG01.

Numerous connections

We have already mentioned that the new Yamaha ZG01 offers a USB-C port for connecting to a PC or Mac, as well as a port for integrating smartphones and tablets. In addition to that, we also mentioned, there are three HDMI ports, two input and one output, where the Yamaha ZG01 can act as an HDMI switch.

In addition, this solution has independent inputs and outputs for a headset or headphones and a microphone, and it is equipped so that you can also connect a pair of desktop speaker systems directly.

It’s worth highlighting that this also has an input suitable for high-quality condenser microphones, with 48V phantom power and a mute switch.

Prices and availability

The new Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer will celebrate its premiere at the IFA 2022 in Berlin, and should already be available in stores these days. The manufacturer lists the recommended retail price at € 359. It should also be mentioned that Yamaha Music Europe GmbH also offers the Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer together with the already mentioned Yamaha YH-G01 headset, in the form of the Yamaha ZG01 Pack, which is listed at € 499, -.

Getting to the point

With the new Yamaha ZG Series and here especially the new Yamaha ZG01 Game Streaming Audio Mixer, Yamaha Music Europe GmbH is now specifically dedicated to the flourishing gaming market. The focus here is specifically on very ambitious gamers and commentators of online games, and naturally relies on the expertise acquired over many decades in the professional and semi-professional field of music production.